83 Comments

When should kids be allowed to walk/bike to school alone?@AdamV - The likelihood of kidnappings is low in the US, but much higher in certain other countries. There are a lot of other risks whose degree of severity and likelihood varies. Auto/pedestrian accidents happen thousands of times a year, and are extremely bad in some countries. Bullying/assault is a huge deal in many areas, I was personally assaulted by other students multiple times walking home from school when I was in middle school here in the US. Peer pressure can convince kids to detour from going home to get involved in illegal activities (e.g. vandalism, petty theft).

May7

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What type of tracking technology is practical for young children?@mxyzplk - I think it's quite presumptuous of you to insinuate that this problem doesn't apply to me. It is a real problem I'm concerned with. I've had the fear of losing one of my children or having them kidnapped. I want to know if there are any technologies out there for tracking them. In addition I think it's an issue that is very important for many other parents.

May6

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What type of tracking technology is practical for young children?@jpatokal - The fact that you're trying to personalize it validates that location context matters. I used to live in Houston, but that's besides the point. The point is that the question is very relevant to a large population of the world and this site doesn't cater to a US-only audience. Dying in a motorcycle accident is an "irrelevant risk" for someone who doesn't ride motorcycles. It's very relevant to someone who does. If the question doesn't apply to you, just move on. Many people do care and don't carelessly view discovering better ways of protecting their kids as an "irrelevant risk".

May2

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What type of tracking technology is practical for young children?@jpatokal - Maybe where you live, but kidnapping and human trafficking are very serious issues in countries like Mexico, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Venezuela, and Lebanon. And the statistics you read are unreliable because in many of these countries, the large majority of cases go unreported. Regardless, I don't buy in to your zero-probability fallacy. If there is a low-cost, safe, and easy way to track my kids in the case of an emergency, why would I not utilize it? I didn't know if there was such a way, hence the question.

Why would a child hold his breath regularly?I just want to note that if someone else's child is going through something like this, you shouldn't listen to the ill-conceived notions that he/she is doing it for attention or because they find it interesting or relaxing. I've covered all of this with several ENT specialists during our dealings with this matter and they've all told me that based on these types of symptoms, a psychological cause is almost definitely not the case. Get it checked out, and go with your gut when you feel like there is something wrong, because you're probably right.

How do you deal with a 9 year old not doing their homework?@ChristineGordon - I'm not saying you should ignore the fact that its hard, I'm saying that you shouldn't use negative language to describe it as such. Describing something as a fun challenge and showing passion and energy to solve problems is quite different than saying "I know this is hard". I think the former is an essential tool and the latter (despite showing empathy) is utterly useless and has no positive impact on learning.

How do you feed a picky eater?-1: I'd like to see you reference some scientific studies that show that children can look at food for a split second (the typical care/reasoning that goes in to deciding they don't want to eat something) and determine that they have a chemical sensitivity. I could be wrong, but the fact that a child (or human) can determine through their senses that they have an allergic or chemical sensitivity seems pretty far fetched. I have food allergies that developed as I got older, and my body never gave nor currently gives me any indication based on sight, taste, or smell.